SIU puts loss in MVC final behind it, drills hard for Crusaders

The Southern Illinois point guard couldn't hide his delight at being in the NCAA tournament again. The sophomore was ready long before the Salukis took the court at 5:10 p.m. A loss to Creighton in the Missouri Valley tournament final was forgotten

"This is definitely the reason why I came here, to play in these types of games," Mullins said. "The first couple of days after the game we had time to think about it.

"But we really put that behind us once we started practicing. Once we found out who we were playing, we've just been practicing and focusing on Holy Cross."

Defense!

They say you win with defense. Southern Illinois and Holy Cross sure do.

The Salukis finished the regular season allowing just 56.5 points per game, third in the country. SIU is the top defensive team in the tournament as No. 1 Princeton (52.9) and No. 2 Air Force didn't qualify. Holy Cross gave up just 57.1 to rank sixth.

"Their defense is very similar [in some ways]," Holy Cross standout Keith Simmons said. "They try to keep everybody out of the middle. They give great weak-side help. They only allow 56 points a game, and we allow 57. They play with a great deal of emotion and passion as we do. It's going to be a battle."

Ancient history

Holy Cross has a pretty good NCAA history, just not recently. The Crusaders are making their 12th NCAA appearance, but they haven't won a game since 1953, when they defeated Wake Forest 79-71 in the East regional semifinals. Since then, they have lost eight straight. The 1947 team, coached by Doggie Julian, won the NCAA championship with a 58-47 victory over Oklahoma and the 1948 team made the Final Four and took third back when there was a consolation game.

Travelin' men

Holy Cross played at Syracuse, at Dayton, at Duke, at Providence, at Niagara and at George Mason--all losses--in a stretch of 11 straight road games in late November and December. The Crusaders went 5-6 and then won nine straight. Holy Cross was 14-0 at home and got the Patriot League's No. 1 seed over Bucknell because of its higher RPI. The two teams tied for the regular-season title with 13-1 records.

"It prepared us 100 percent for a game of this magnitude," guard Torey Thomas said. "Southern Illinois is a very physical team with the likes of Providence, Syracuse and Duke that we played early in the season."